Keeping sons money

I'm not trying to make out that it is a common thing but people can be and are investigated and prosecuted for fraud for taking the money of a vulnerable person awarded PIP or any other benefit and also for taking their motability car.

The investigation would usually be triggered by a complaint to the police or to a social worker or similar from someone that suspects financial exploitation. This could be a family member, a day service, PA support, a supported living provider - anyone that feels the person does not seem able to access the resources that should be available to them and suspect the money is being taken by others for their use.

No one form DWP would ever check up on this though ? Many many families with children on DLA/ PIP would just put the money into the household pot . DWP would never check up on what it is or isn't being spent on.

Because the OP has been receiving her son's PIP and isn't able to account for where it has gone/been spent I assume.

If the spending of the PIP money can be accounted for then the savings can belong to OP no problem.

The PIP is her son's money so it either needs to be spent on him/his costs or saved for him.

How would anyone actually know it is op's son's money and not hers ? There's absolutely no way of anyone knowing or checking. If op ever needs to claim means tested benefits herself though she won't be able to which is something worth considering.

Great and sensible advice,

This. The money is to be spent on the extra costs of his disability. If you are not using it for that purpose to the extent it is building up to over 16k then he doesn't need to claim UC until it drops below that figure does he ?

Legally it's the OP's money. When you claim PIP for a child it is to counteract the possible poverty caused by caring for a disabled child. Every penny doesn't have to be spent on the child, as such. The OP has built a savings account in her name. I doubt that she has neglected her son, so money has been spent on him. It is only when he turned 18, then it becomes his and the OP can set how much he gives her for keep.

Private pension is an excellent idea

https://www.scope.org.uk/advice-and-support/managing-money-for-someone-else/#:~:text=You%20could%20get%20the%20legal,cannot%20make%20their%20own%20decisions.&text=The%20Court%20will%20decide%20if,to%20manage%20the%20person%27s%20finances.

Might be worth applying court of protection to be able to manage his money for him if he cannot

I am an appointee for my disabled son who gets PIP and UC. His benefits get paid into his own account and pay for his general living costs and bills like his phone. He lives at home with me (and is unlikely to move out for the foreseeable) so he pays a standing order to my bank account towards the house bills and food costs, and a payment towards housing costs. I have also set up a private pension for him so he can pay into that, £2880 a year, and it doesn't count as savings towards UC. I don't save for him but I have my own savings in my own name which I would be willing to support him with if he had any major unexpected expenses.

I have a disabled son and we have POA. I manage all his money. He lives on his own and we pay all his bills from his UC and PIP. He has money when he asked for it. Otherwise he would be homeless and destitute.

Research vulnerable persons trust. Quite often there are circumstances that mean that a young person who is vulnerable might inherit funds that would make them ineligible for benefit. Such a trust is designed to make sure that the vulnerable are not disadvantaged by this rule that clearly is designed to apply to people temporarily out of work rather than facing lifelong disability and inability to work.

Being able to work (whatever that means for OP’s DS specifically) is not necessarily the same as being able to manage his own finances.

Just to re-iterate it is not OP's money it is her adult child's money to be managed and spent in his best interest.

Use his PIP for his additional care costs as that is what is is meant for.

Any savings you have then are just that, your savings not his PIP. Write a will leaving more of your estate to one dc if you wish.

If his actual costs are less than his PIP and he can afford to save above the allowed limits, then morally it is benefit fraud. Whether they would be able to prove it if your finances are intertwined is another question.

So you spend the equivalent of pip from family money on ds and then save the pip money in an account in your name , for ds. Where does other dc factor in to this in terms of financial planning, surely he/ she should get half of the savings anyway? Yes, other dc may be in a better position in terms of future employment etc but I suspect this could create problems between siblings in the future.

As a lone parent of a disabled 20yo who's not long since moved into supported accommodation I'd say definitely keep it in your name. Mine got £700 recently from a small policy & there was no option but for it to be paid to him. The headache this has caused is ridiculous. Everyone wants a cut & if not a cut, they want endless documents completing about it. I'm so glad the rest of his funds are still in my name & they'll certainly be remaining that way.

Sorry, just had another look. You'd be better off using his pip for him and not using your own funds. That's what it's there for. You can always use your own funds to save for him. Hth

Pip isn't means tested and Ive just looked...it doesn't affect claiming UC either so you should be ok.

OP really needs to consider her own position with savings, as having large amounts of savings would impact her if she needed to apply for benefits in future.

Does she really? Not everyone has to manage their wealth so they can get benefits. She's obviously doing fine if they've never had to spend the PIP, covered everything from family money and not even 'had' to claim carers for her, plus all this concern about having too much in savings, leaving ££ for DC etc. If having large amounts of savings would impact her applying for benefits, then so it should. Such a warped way of looking at the system. Eesh.

Take away what’s happened in the past. He’s now an adult so she can legitimately charge him housekeeping. If he were renting somewhere, it would be minimum £500 rent plus food, so she can charge (transfer to her account) the same amount. It won’t take long to use up those funds.

For those saying it’s technically fraud - she hasn’t committed fraud yet. She has financially supported her son herself. As she’s already said, she could have spent his money many times over but chose to pay herself and save his money. She didn’t do herself any favours.

OP really needs to consider her own position with savings, as having large amounts of savings would impact her if she needed to apply for benefits in future.

@colouredball

No worries.

Just wanted to make it clear for anyone reading what the position is.

@Theredfoxfliesatmidnight

She has accounts showing that money equivalent to the DLA has been spent on her son.

What has happened is that the DLA money has gone into one account and they have largely used their own funds to pay for what they can, keeping back the DLA for future eventualities, which is quite sensible as large costs can come out of nowhere.

If they have bank statements and receipts for what they’ve purchased there should be no issue if it is ever queried. The money saved is really their own money.